Books

Books : reviews

Haruki Murakami.What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: a memoir.
Vintage. 2008

Most of the stuff Amazon recommends makes sense: more of the kind of
stuff I usually read, and some skewed by the presents I buy. But
occasionally it pops up something bizarre, presumably because I bought
obscure X, and the the only other person who bought X also bought
completely unrelated Y, I get recommended Y. Usually Y is not for me,
but very occasionally, it does pique my interest. Like this
one.

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese novelist who also runs, ostensibly to
keep fit. I say ostensibly, because as well as running a good distance
every day, he also runs a few marathons each year, and does
triathlons, and once ran a 60-mile ultramarathon. These all require
serious training (he employed a swimming coach when he started
triathlons), rather than just being some simple keep-fit exercises.
This is a memoir, covering a year of running, and lots of other
stuff.

It's a gentle, interesting read, even if, like me, the only time you
run is to catch a train. (I did like the part where he criticises
schools for making everyone do the same sports, whether they are right
for them or not.) It's not just running: there is the music he listens
to while he runs, the speeches he practices, and other
autobiographical events. I was left feeling sorry for his wife.

His descriptions of his state of mind during and after running are
fascinating: he never (or at least his translator never) uses the word
"Zen", but it seems to be hovering there. Related to that, a
most interesting line, in the foreword, is: Pain
is inevitable. Suffering is optional. He is referring to the
voluntary pain and suffering of running, or, by extension, of any
other voluntary task one undertakes. A useful distinction to remember.